Tuesday, May 20, 2014

HUMP DAY!

5/19/2014

I'm halfway. And I survived
Hump Day. It's all downhill from here! :) I'm going to make a list of 9 things
I've learned so far on my mission in honor of 9 months.

1. The Church is true. I knew
this before, but there is something in every single day if not multiple things
in a day that testify that this Church is true. The fullness is back. There is
no way that this gospel would spread through a bunch of 18-20 whatever year olds
if it wasn't true.

2. Miracles happen and people
can change. This is the Lord's work and He is preparing people. And it blows my
mind every time. The Atonement is REAL!

3. Happiness is found in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ (that's why I laugh so much. :) ) Obedience is what
brings true and lasting happiness.

4. Hoosiers love to talk. A
lot. About dogs. And cats. And they love to smoke like it's no one's business,
hence the lack of teeth. BUT I love them. A lot.

5. I miss Christensen cooking.
A lot.

6. NOTHING is better than being an answer to
someone's prayer. It is evidence that the spirit guides us in everything we do
if we are listening.

7. I want to be a member
missionary. And be that cool lady that the missionaries always want to take to
lessons or eat dinner at my house.

8. I've learned a whole lot
about who I want to be and who I don't want to be. And I've learned I have a long ways to go in
patience :)

9. Life is about obedience,
diligence, and having fun. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and if we are
willing to work, ANYTHING is possible. And you can be happy while doing it!

I could keep going, but there
are 9 things for now.

Well this week has been pretty
great so far. We had a lot of success and saw some miracles.

Monday, we had P-Day, went to
Brownsburg and I beat like 10 Elders in 2 rounds of chair soccer, we came back,
saw a few people, went to FHE at Brother J's (our investigator H came!) then
did a little more contacting.

Tuesday, we had a lesson with B.
He still just has a lot of fear. I think it's really fear of divine potential
and the fact that he can be happy (crazy as it seems). He's just gotta jump.
Our member we took with us jokingly poured out B's coffee. It's a good thing B's
not offended easily haha. Then we went to lunch with M and H who are both now
back in China. They're adorable and I'm going to miss them. They were laughing
about all my questions about China. I have no idea what China is like, so I was
asking them everything. Then we went and made hair flowers with the people at
the Waters. (Assisted Living or nursing home facility I
think) They crack me up. But make me never want to get old. Then we went
2-2-4ing and went to the H's for dinner then went to see a less-active and went
out to the boonies to find a referral. She lives in the funniest little cabin
with a whole bunch of random animal skulls and signs and such outside her
house. Seriously...backwoods Indiana is crazy.

Wednesday, we had pretty much
all our appointments fall through, but it ended up being a super solid day of
tracting and trying potentials and less-actives, so that was good. Then we
taught Heaven. We were planning on teaching H the Word of Wisdom. When we got
there, she had cookies and was making tea for us. We asked her what kind of tea
and she said green tea so we told her no thanks. Then we proceeded with the
lesson, she read the paragraph in the pamphlet about not drinking tea and all
the sudden got so sad because she loves tea. But we talked about the blessings
and she said "I'm going to finish this cup" so she did and then she
went and poured out the rest of the pot. Talk about a miracle! It was so
awesome. Her testimony is already so strong. Then we went tracting in the
POURING rain but had a tender mercy and found a lady we set up an appointment
with who is SO PREPARED. I'll talk about her on Friday. Then we went to Young
Women's then went and taught our new investigator C. She is super sweet.
Hopefully she's reading the Book of Mormon and we'll get to teach her again
this week.

Thursday, we had Zone
Conference in Brownsburg. It was so great. Then we came back after, had dinner
with the E's then did contacting that night I think...I don't really
remember...

Friday, we taught B in the
morning then we went and taught the lady we had found in the pouring rain. She
doesn't have a solid church she goes to right now and we taught her the
Restoration and it answered so many of her questions. She had a lot of
questions about infant baptism, God being loving, and where we go after this
life. Luckily, we have answers to all of those :) SUPER SWEET! Then she gave us
a gallon of milk too. Miracles happen! :) Then we had weekly planning, had
dinner with the M's, saw Sister S, hunted down a few more things we needed for
the temple, and I think that was about it....

Saturday = TEMPLE DAY! So
great! We headed down to Louisville at about 5:15, did two sessions, did some
sealings, then we ate pizza at the Stake Center because the Youth did baptisms
that day too. Then we headed on back. I'm severely disappointed in Southern
Indiana. Everyone told me it was more hilly than up here....they lied. haha.
Their hills are like speed bumps. Someday I'll see a mountain again :) After we
got back, we went to stop by H's then went and taught Sister J.

Sunday, we went about church,
came home, finished up studies, went and taught the lady we met with two
Sundays ago (J...she's 80...interested in Book of Mormon) and she had read all
the way to Moroni because she thought we wanted the book back! She loves how
simple the Book of Mormon is but she says they're not going to change. We
taught her about the principle of eternal marriage ("time and all
eternity" vs. "til death do you part") and her mind was BLOWN.
It was so amazing. She understands that authority has to come from Jesus Christ
and basically that her pastor doesn't have it, but she just says they're old.
Someday she'll decide to change! :) Then we saw Sister J again cause she made
us cornbread, went and stopped by B's because he didn't come to church again,
then went and taught I (who we had passover with - he wanted to know if his cat who just got ran
over would be resurrected).

And today, it's P-Day again.
Crazy, crazy. Time flies when you're having fun.